Last fall, D&Z hosted an open house at the Surry County Parks and Recreation Center to present “Careers in Nuclear Energy” to residents of Surry County, Virginia, and surrounding counties. The event was sponsored by Surry County Workforce Development and Social Services. Also supporting the event was Camp Community College and MFA Consulting Services, LLC. The purpose was to identify candidates for the Nuclear Worker Training Program Plus (NWTP+) scheduled for March 2024 in support of Dominion Energy’s Surry Power Station spring outage. Through outreach by Social Services and MFA Consulting Services, this program targets unemployed and underemployed persons in Surry and surrounding counties.
NWTP+ builds on the Nuclear Worker Training Program implemented this year for the Surry and North Anna outages by adding National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) Core: Introduction to Basic Construction Skills course for persons with minimal construction experience. This NCCER instruction is being provided by Paul D Camp Community College, which has been an important partner in D&Z local workforce development efforts.
We had the honor to present Careers in Nuclear Energy to over 50 attendees highlighting the importance of nuclear energy and the opportunities that exist past the year 2050. Russell Batten, the D&Z Site Manager, and Keith Butler, Paint Shop General Foreperson, both lifelong members of the community, discussed what it is like to work at a nuclear power station and the opportunity have a well-paying career close to home.
Russell said of the event, “So many people never knew that they could work at the nuclear power station. As we extend the life of the units into 2050, a new generation of skilled workers will be needed. A career in nuclear provides well-paying jobs right here and will help keep people in the community.”
Sheena Moorer, D&Z Sourcing Manager, worked with the attendees to complete profile sheets and heard over and over “Wow, I didn’t know all this about the nuclear industry.” Sheena saw the event “as important to get the D&Z brand out into the community so people can learn more and come work for us.”
Events like these make connections not only with local residents introducing them to great jobs and careers in nuclear, but also strengthen D&Z's partnerships with schools and organizations in the community to help build a pipeline of nuclear craft professionals for our customers. This event resulted in 22 persons registering for the NWTP+ Program.